Transactions, january 24, 2014

     One of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s old-line country clubs plans to sell nine of its 36 holes to Toll Brothers, the big home builder. Philmont Country Club, which was established by the city’s business interests in 1906, hopes to generate $12 million from the sale of 52 acres, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The club will likely spend at least part of the money on a new clubhouse. Philmont says that its golf courses were designed by Willie Park, Jr. (the South course) and William S. Flynn (North), although some historians have questioned whether Flynn was actually involved. The club hasn’t said which holes would be lost, but it previously floated a proposal to build houses for seniors on part of its South course.

     Last fall, a Chinese group acquired the long-suffering Stallion Mountain Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. The track, part of a gated community located seven miles from the Strip, made the big time when it hosted the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Classic. Stallion Mountain, which made its debut (as Sunrise Country Club) in 1992, has had several owners, and it was once controlled by the federal government. It now belongs to C-Bons International Golf Group, an entity that appears to be affiliated with C-Bons Holding (International) Ltd., a conglomerate based in Wuhan, Hubei Province. C-Bons owns two other U.S. golf properties, both in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona: Moon Valley Country Club and Western Skies Golf Club. Stallion Mountain once had three golf courses, but only one remains: An 18-hole track co-designed by Jim Colbert (Sunrise’s original owner) and Jeff Brauer. The name of the seller can’t be determined from online records, but in 2011 the club was sold out of foreclosure (for $3.8 million) to Tartan Golf Management of Dublin, Ohio.

     The only winery in New Jersey with its own golf course may soon be changing hands. An unidentified party has agreed to buy Renault Winery Resort, a 150-year-old property in Egg Harbor City, outside Atlantic City. Since 1977, Renault has been owned by Joseph Milza, a one-time newspaper owner and publisher who made his 1,400-acre spread a weekend destination by adding a 50-room hotel, a restaurant, and an 18-hole, Ed Shearon-designed golf course. Someone must have told him that the property’s sandy soils weren’t just good for growing grapes. The Press of Atlantic City reports that the buyer is a group based in New Jersey. It’s currently doing its due diligence and expects to settle on the purchase sometime during the first quarter of this year.

     One of the oldest golf courses in Texas has a new owner. On January 1, Glen Rhodes took possession of the Challenge at the Woods, an 18-hole track in Jacksonville that opened (as Cherokee Country Club) in 1936. The course was redesigned by Matt Dye in 2008. Rhodes bought the course from Challenge Golf Group, which had owned it since 2009. CGG now owns five golf properties in Texas and others in North and South Carolina.

     Ray Watts has picked up his second golf property on South Carolina’s Grand Strand, and he’s on the prowl for another. Watts, the owner of Island Green Country Club in Myrtle Beach, has reportedly paid $1.15 million for Wedgefield Plantation, a property that had been owned by George Marlowe since 2009. The 42-year-old club features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Porter Gibson and Bob Toski. In an effort to generate more play at both of his properties, Watts plans to offer affordably priced joint memberships to local golfers. Wedgefield currently has only 80 members, while Island Green has about 110. Watts told the Myrtle Beach Sun News that he hopes to buy more courses on the Strand and may soon acquire one from outside the area. “I’m always looking,” he noted. The Wedgefield transaction closed in mid December 2013.

     By an overwhelming margin, the stockholders of Perry Golf Club, in Perry, Georgia, have voted to sell their 123-acre property to the owner of a local construction company. For an undisclosed price, Marty Myers has agreed to rescue the struggling club, which opened in 1950 and features an 18-hole, 6,465-yard golf course. “Our membership is down,” the club’s president wrote in a letter to the stockholders, “[and] with all the rain this year, we didn’t get the play to generate the income we needed to survive.” The transaction is expected to close later this month, according to the Macon Telegraph.

     Thanks to some neighbors, a family-owned golf course in Murrysville, Pennsylvania won’t be converted into a subdivision. In late 2013, just months after a residential developer requested a zoning change on Murrysville Golf Course, Gary Bowser closed on the 137-acre property. He didn’t reveal the purchase price, but he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he intends to operate the course “for the foreseeable future.” Bowser and his wife bought the course from Recreation, Inc., an entity controlled by Jim Geiger. Geiger’s grandparents, James and Georgina Noble, opened the 18-hole layout in 1930.

     In late 2013 or early 2014, a veteran PGA pro acquired the only golf course in Kingman, Kansas. “I like the possibilities that Kingman Country Club represents,” Danny Cline told the Hutchinson News. The club features a nine-hole course that opened in 1923. Cline, who’s worked at courses in Kansas and four other states, bought it from Marvin Miller, for an undisclosed price. Cline assumed control of the property on January 1.

     The University of Louisville has closed on its purchase of the Cardinal Club, the home of its men’s and women’s golf teams. The club, which opened in 2001 as one of the University Clubs of America, will remain private, but with a ho-hum new name: University of Louisville Golf Course.

     Last month, David Chastain professed to be “pretty sure” that he’d be able to strike a deal for Twin Lakes Golf Course, a non-functioning 18-hole layout in Arab, Alabama. He was wrong. Chastain and the course’s owner, Bill Pike, failed to come to an agreement, and the Arab Tribune says that Pike is currently negotiating with a group that wishes to remain anonymous.